Door Mechanism

[charlielucky]

Hi, I am trying to work out why my driver side door will not open from the inside. I have the door card off and can see that the bar operated by the handle is connected to a lever. On my car it looks like the lever is disconnected! Does anybody have a detailed plan of how the mechanism should be connected? Thanks

[18Fiatsandcounting]

The end of that bar attaches with a push-on plastic connector to the door latch mechanism. My memory is pretty dim on this, though. Maybe it just popped off?

-Bryan

[charlielucky]

Hi, I removed the passenger side door card and had a good feel around to see how the mechanism works, and now I can see what the problem is. When I lift up the door handle the end of the lever is about 4mm short of activating the lock mechanism. Was there originally a plastic or rubber shim of some kind between the lever and the door lock? Seems a shame to have to replace the whole mechanism so I was wondering if I could use an epoxy glue to fix a metal shim in place? The access is so restricted I have no idea how I would hold the shim in place! If there was originally no shim between the lever and the door plate, is there any adjustment possible to make up the 4mm or so?

Sorry to be a pain but I'm so close to getting the car through the French control technic and I'm sure they will not issue a certificate if they can't open the door from the inside.

Charles

[18Fiatsandcounting]

I'm not as familiar with the Spider 2000 door mechanism, but I believe there are some differences between it and the earlier door latch/lock mechanisms. On the earlier cars, pushing the door handle down locks the door, and pulling up on the handle unlocks/unlatches the door (and it then opens). The 18 inch or so metal rod is riveted to the door handle mechanism (but does swivel), and it's attached to the latch/lock mechanism with a plastic grommet of sorts. My memory is dim, but I thought that there was some adjustment on the end of the metal bar near the latch mechanism. Maybe a cm or so.

This probably doesn't help much, but it's all that I can offer.

-Bryan

[PaulC]

Suggest downloading the service manual from
https://www.mirafiori.com/forum/viewtop ... 25&t=99033
and look in the body section for a diagram of the door mechanism.
Should be all you need. Any missing parts can probably be had from AutoRicambi.

[charlielucky]

Thank you all for your helpful tips. I managed to solve the problem by removing the three door handle screws and sliding the mechanism up enough to file out the holes by about 3 mm. I re-inserted the mechanism rotating it anticlockwise which was just enough to allow the lever to activate the release plate. Problem solved!